The Haunting
by weaver61
Summary: A tale of a haunted house.


I wrote this story after reading a book of haunted house tales from my home stae of Illinois There was a real house in my state that was used like the house in the story. I don't know if New York has any like it. I was inspired by Fin in 'Ritual'. I hope you enjoy the tale and as usual I an just borrowing the charaters.

The dark sedan pulled up to the curb and the two detectives inside checked the address on the warrant they were here to serve.

"That's it Elliot," Odafin Tutuola told the man behind the wheel. "I can't believe that our perp was hiding out in there."

"Why? Because it looks like a haunted house?" Elliot Stabler asked.

"Yeah, I don't like the feel of the place," Fin commented.

"All the better for our boy to hide in," Elliot reminded him. "A bad reputation keeps the curious away. Except for the neighborhood boys." Elliot grinned a little. That was how they had caught on to the perp. One of the local kids had been dared to spend the night. He had seen the rapist as he ran out the back door and for a wonder he had actually reported it.

"You've been in there," Fin stated. The house they were in front of was in Queens not far from where Elliot had grown up.

"Uh-huh, and considering that that was 30 years ago we had better be careful," Elliot warned Fin. "The place wasn't in great shape then, it has to be worse now."

"Are the floors bad?" Fin asked. He could see the two of them falling through.

Elliot shrugs, "They were ok back then."

The two of them got out of the car and walked up to the front door. Elliot remembered doing this as a kid and laughed a little to himself. "Now I wonder what we were all so scared of," he told Fin.

"You've seen too much since then," Fin observed.

Elliot nodded and reached to open the front door, "POLICE," he yelled inside, "we're executing a search warrant."

There is no response, "Well now that we've announced ourselves to the rats and ghosts…" Fin kidded.

Elliot grinned at his fellow detective and they entered the house guns drawn. The place looked a lot like what Elliot remembered, it was a little more run down he noted. He remembered Fin's concern about the floors and they both moved carefully.

The house had been built before the civil war and was the focus of several preservation groups, the problem, Elliot knew, was that while they fought out the battles in court the house continued to deteriorate. Eventually the developers would win because the house would be too run down to fix.

They cleared the first floor, Fin commented that the place wasn't in too bad condition. Elliot nodded, maybe it could be salvaged. They looked outside, a thunder storm was brewing. "Well I hope the roof doesn't leak," Fin was looking at the walls and floor, "I don't see any water stains El'. Maybe the roof is good."

Elliot shrugged, he was leading as they went up the stairs to the second floor when he felt something brush his arm. "Hey!" he exclaimed.

"What's wrong?"

"I felt something on my arm," Elliot said as he looked around. There was nothing there so they continued on. The first room was as empty as the downstairs rooms, so were the second and third. The last room however had some interesting contents, a cot with a bloodstained mattress. The four corners of the cot had handcuffs attached to them. Elliot knelt down to examine them, the one he looked at had skin and blood on it.

"Whoever was chained here fought hard Fin. There's skin and blood on the cuff."

Fin walked around the room until he was standing at the window. It looked out into the yard, he glanced out to check on the storm and he thought he saw someone near the big oak tree. Elliot glanced at him when he heard his exclamation.

"What?"

"I thought I saw someone in the yard, but if I did they're gone," was Fin's only comment.

Elliot nodded, the light outside was odd and could play tricks, "Well we know where he held his victims, I'm going to call CSU and see where they are." Elliot pulled out his cell phone and placed the call. When he hung up he told Fin, "They have a problem, the storm has knocked out power to 1PP and they are helping to get people out."

"Great, so do we continue?" Fin asked.

"I don't see why not," Elliot told him. "The storm is coming this way and at least we're under a roof."

"What's left to check?"

"The basement," Elliot stated.

"Did you make it down there in your misspent youth?" Fin asked him.

"Who me? Not a chance," Elliot laughed. The basement had been terrifying, he had looked down the stairs in daylight and he had decided he would never go down, now he had to. "But then I didn't have this." Elliot hefted the large flashlight in his hand.

"A little light on a subject never hurt anything," agreed Fin and the two went downstairs.

They had to search a bit but they finally found the door to the basement, Elliot had forgotten where it was. Fin shone his light down the stairs, they looked sound so he started down. Elliot waited until he was most of the way down to avoid overloading the stairs, they could both hear them creaking. At the bottom they looked around. The basement looked too small, there had to be more.

"Which way is the front wall?" Elliot asked.

Fin went back up the stairs and checked, to see where they were in relation to the main floor. When he came back down, "Elliot, the stairs point to the left so the front door is in front of you. That wall is in the wrong place."

Elliot nodded and started to examine the wall, "How's the weather?"

"It's getting dark out there," Fin told him. Just then they could both hear thunder. "Storm's here."

Elliot continued to examine the wall, "What are you looking for?" Fin asked.

"To see if there is a way into the front section of the basement," Elliot was running his hands over the bricks.

Fin held the flashlights so that Elliot could see what he was doing. He found what he was looking for, a break in the brickwork. He followed it until he had the outline of a door.

"Damn, you were right. Did our perp find it?" Fin asked.

"I don't think so, I can't find a way to open it."

"Here let me look at it," Fin offered.

He put his hands in the center of the door and pushed, "I felt it give El'."

"El'?" Fin called to get his attention,

"Sorry," Elliot apologized. "I thought I saw something move."

"Flashlight will do that," Fin commented.

"Yeah, push harder maybe it'll just fall in," Elliot suggested.

Fin did so and he felt the bricks give beneath his hands, then they collapsed in a cloud of dust. The two men had to go up the stairs until the dust settled.

"Well I guess that answers whether or not our perp found that door," Elliot commented.

"Are we going to keep looking at it?" Fin asked.

"You have something better to do?" Elliot asked as he indicated the storm now raging outside.

"Guess I don't," Fin agreed. "Looks like we can go back down."

The dust had settled and they shone their lights into the hole in the wall. They couldn't see much so Elliot climbed through the opening.

"Jesus," Elliot exclaimed.

"What is it?" Fin asked him.

When Elliot didn't respond Fin followed him into the space. When he saw what Elliot had seen he wished he hadn't. Elliot had put his hand on the wall he had his eyes closed, he had seen a lot as an SVU detective but this was worse than anything he had ever seen.

Fin was stunned, Elliot's horror at what they had found was nothing compared to his. There were wooden stalls lining the walls each about 3 feet wide by 5 feet deep. None of them had ever had doors, instead they had an iron ring installed on the back wall of each stall. There were chains coming off each of the rings to restrain the occupant of the stall.

That wasn't the worst of it, the worst of it was the last seven occupants had never been released.

Elliot looked at his friend as he looked at the skull of a child, it was lying next to a larger one that might have been it's mother. Fin was just kneeling there on the floor, tears starting to form in his eyes. Elliot put his hand on Fin's shoulder, "Fin," he whispered.

"They were laying here all of this time," Fin said to no one in particular.

"They can get a proper burial now," Elliot told him. Fin just nodded. Elliot left him there, he knew that Fin was going to have to work thru the fact that they had just opened up an unknown set of slave quarters. He continued to look around a bit, letting Fin recover himself.

When Fin did he joined Elliot in looking around the room, "How did anyone miss this place?"

Elliot thought about it, "The house has always been in private hands, even abandoned. I doubt that any owner would want to admit that this was here. If they knew."

"How could they not know!"

"The place has changed hands several times," Elliot shrugged. "I'd bet that some of the original owners knew but not the current ones."

"Maybe," Fin conceded. "So what I pushed down was a bricked up door."

"Looks like it. I'd bet it was done by an amateur too. The rest of the wall is sound."

Fin nodded, "What do we do with this?"

"Call Cragen, he'll know who to call." Elliot hesitated. "Fin what do you think should happen."

Fin shrugged, "I want the dead buried, I'm not sure what I want with this place."

Elliot nodded, "This will give the preservationists a leg up in court, they might actually win."

"Yeah, why don't you see if you can get CSU down here, preserve the evidence." Fin suggested.

"You want it treated as a crime scene?"

"No, not really. I just don't want it messed up." Fin told him. "I know our people will treat it right."

Elliot nodded and went upstairs to call Cragen.

Fin came up the stairs in time to hear the end of Elliot's call, "So what's going to happen?"

"Cap's got CSU finally on the way, they got the power back on. But we should stay here." Elliot looked at Fin with concern, "You want to leave Fin?"

"Nah, I'm ok," Fin lied.

Elliot smiled gently, "Tell that lie to someone else friend."

Fin shrugged, "I don't want this messed with Elliot, I'm staying."

Elliot nodded and the two of them sat down on the floor of the hallway to wait for CSU.

When CSU arrived they processed the bedroom first. While they were doing that Cragen arrived. Elliot and Fin told him more about what they had found.

"I'd like to see it before the horde goes in there, besides M.E. isn't here yet." Cragen reminded them.

Elliot nodded, "Come on then."

The three of them went down the stairs and Cragen stepped inside the prison. When he came out he was shaken. Warner had arrived while he was looking and one of the techs had directed her downstairs.

"What do you have for me?" Dr. Melinda Warner asked.

"Didn't someone tell you?" Elliot asked looking at Cragen.

"I was at home and got paged by the office, why?"

"Doc. I was kind of hoping it wouldn't be you," admitted Cragen.

At her puzzled look Elliot started the brief, "Fin and I were doing a search of the house for evidence in a series of rapes. We found the bed upstairs and we called it in, but CSU was stuck so we decided to check the rest of the house while we waited." He stopped for a minute, "I remember being in the house as a kid on a dare, same as the one who reported the man running out the back. I was in the house for all of an hour back then, I looked down the stairs but I never came down here."

"We walked down here and realized that it was too small for the house so we started checking that wall. It seemed to be the one that was out of place. I found what looked like an opening but there was no way to open it. Fin pushed and I guess the mortar was rotten because it just gave way. When the dust cleared we went in." Elliot stopped and looked at the African-American M.E. for a moment, "It's a little hell in there Doc. I don't think it's been opened since the Civil War and there are bodies in there, skeletons really." He is trying to prepare her but it is Fin who finally says the words.

"Melinda, it's a slave pen. Breeding stalls." Fin's voice is gentle.

Warner looks at the two of them in shock, then she turns and walks through the door. Elliot and Fin behind her with their flashlights so she can see.

They watch her kneel down by the child's skeleton, she brushes her hand along the skull and bows her head for a moment. Then she pulls her professional persona around her and looks up at the two detectives.

"Fin, tell Rodriguez to get the portable lights in here so I can see what I'm doing. I also want Kim and Taylor in here please," she requested.

Fin handed her his light and went out to get the requested item and personnel.

"You ok Doc?" Elliot asked.

"Are you?" she asked in return.

"No," Elliot admitted. "I see this and I want to punish someone for it and they're all dead, there's nothing to do."

"Yes there is," Warner told him. "Give these people the respect they deserve and make damned sure that this never happens again." Her voice is fierce.

Elliot nodded, "Since you are short handed, you want help with this?"

"If you can spare the time, yes." Warner looked grim, "The fewer people who find out about this the better for now."

"Yeah, It'll be a circus." Elliot thought a moment and then suggested to Cragen. "What about getting a couple of reporters involved from the beginning."

"Your thinking about the preservation fight," he commented.

"Yeah, I don't want the developers screwing with us and if we're on the record from the beginning they can't accuse us of being underhanded."

"You have anyone in mind?" Cragen asked.

"Jeff Miller," Elliot said naming an old friend of his. "Fin should ask someone as well."

"I'll talk to him, and Elliot go ahead and call Jeff," Cragen told him.

The techs were now setting up the portable lights so he went to make the call.

Fin had called an old friend of his named Richard Fuller, the two reporters would have access to the crime scene photos and reports. In return the police would have access to their photos and notes.

It took the developers two days before they realized what was going on. When they did they tried to stop it but Casey Novak took it to the judge who had signed the original warrant and they were told that until the police had decided that it was no longer a crime scene they were stuck.

"Your Honor, it's over a hundred years old! How can it be a crime scene," asked one of the lawyers.

"First of all the bedroom upstairs is definitely a crime scene, second the M.E. hasn't given a time of death yet for the victims in the basement," Casey Novak started.

"Enough," said Judge Petrovsky. "The police had a valid warrant and in the execution of it they found a second crime. When it occurred is irrelevant and until they release it the entire house is off limits. Don't let me hear about anyone even trying to get on the property without permission."

The developers left and Casey turned to go as well, "Ms. Novak," called the judge.

"Yes Your Honor?"

"I assume that this is not to obstruct the court battle over the house," Petrovsky asked.

"No it's not, the basement is complicated and it is taking time to process."

Petrovsky nodded, "You know that the preservationists have re-filed."

"That isn't my concern," Novak told her.

"Of course not," said the judge.

Casey left the judges office breathing a sigh of relief. Petrovsky could have shut them down and she didn't.

Casey went to the 1-6 to see where they were on the search as well as other cases.

"Hey John, how is it going?" Casey asked John Munch.

"Fine, Warner thinks another two days and we will be out of there" John told her.

"Is that a good idea? Petrovsky told me that the case has been re-filed in civil court."

"That's why we we're moving faster, they wanted a restraining order on the developers but they couldn't request it until we got out." John smiled. He had done most of the research for the team, his computer searches had turned up the original property owners and he had some interesting information.

"I also found out who really owns that house," John told her.

"Not Newcore Construction?" Casey asked.

"Nope, they haven't paid the taxes on it in over two years. The city just filed to take possession and I put a call in to the preservation group. Seems that they have just enough money to buy it for the taxes," John looked pleased with himself.

"So they don't need to sue to stop the developers," Casey smiled.

"Not once the check clears," John told her. "And they have no problem with us being there as long as we need to be."

Fin nodded, "Good, what are they planning to do with the basement?"

"You might want to talk to them on that," John told his partner. "Here's the number, I didn't feel qualified to advise them."

"Thanks, man," Fin said as he accepted the number.

"Your welcome."

Elliot walked into the bullpen looking tired. "We got the last body out last night," he informed them.

"When did you get to bed?" Casey asked him.

"I didn't," he told her.

"Well there is nothing happening so why don't you hit the crib for an hour?" suggested Cragen.

"I think I will, 'Liv will be in later I told her to go home," he says referring to his partner Olivia Benson. All of them have been putting in time on the house as well as their regular cases.

"Who's at the house now?" Cragen asked.

"George is, he wanted to see the place before they clean it up." Elliot tells him as he heads up to sleep.

"Hey Elliot, the developers lost the property to taxes," Fin tells him.

Elliot grins tiredly and gives him a thumbs up as he climbs the stairs.

"So what happened to the original case that got us in this mess?" Casey asked.

"Ah-yes, our rapist, it seems that he has been a busy boy. Brooklyn SVU picked him up and since they had the most cases and the best evidence they leaned on him," John looked grave. "He gave it all up and pled out. No deals needed to be made."

"Good that's one off of my desk then," Casey said with satisfaction. "What about the Jones case?"

They spent the morning reviewing open cases and the ones coming up for trial. Olivia walked in around noon and Elliot woke about the same time. Just in time, they got a call to the hospital for a possible child abuse case.


End file.
